We’ve Filed a Request to Publish Redmond v. Gawker Media

My RA Sruli Yellin and I wrote a letter requesting that the California Appellate Court publish its opinion in Redmond v. Gawker Media, the recent case that said Gizmodo’s hyperlinks to its sources helped defeat a defamation claim. Our short letter, filed today. The letter was joined by several additional individuals and organizations, and special thanks to Michael Barclay, who both suggested we make the filing and provided helpful comments, and Mark Goldowitz, who also provided helpful comments.

Until Michael suggested it, I didn’t know third parties could request publication of unpublished opinions. Despite the time it took, this seems like a particularly leveraged way to help “make” new law. With a few hours of work, it’s theoretically possible to add particularly useful opinions to the corpus of citable precedent. I’ll be watching for other opportunities like this. Of course, it’s only a good investment of time if the letters actually work, and I’m hoping our letter in this case does the trick.